Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Monday that he’s far from finished as a presidential candidate.
While Paul has tumbled in the polls, he told CNN that he has no intention of taking up Donald Trump’s suggestion that he suspend his campaign.
{mosads}“By no means am I finished,” he told host Alisyn Camerota on CNN’s “New Day.” “I’m just getting started.”
“We wouldn’t do all this if we were planning on dropping out,” Paul said, citing his campaign’s outreach in key voting states and on college campuses nationwide.
“I think we’ll be around just as long as Trump, if not longer,” the Kentucky lawmaker added.
Paul then argued that Trump, who is leading the polls, is not a suitable choice for the Republican presidential coronation in 2016.
“How can anyone in my party think this clown is fit to be president?” he asked Camerota. “How did we get the race for the most important office in the free world to sink to such low depths?”
Paul said the White House race is crucial given Washington’s dysfunction.
“The problem in Washington is that there is an unholy alliance between left and right,” he said. “They’re both bankrupting the country.”
He said he was surprised by Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) decision to resign last week.
“I was a little surprised,” he said of Boehner’s exit, which will come on Oct. 30. “[But] I see the frustration from the conservative grassroots.
“The people who elected us are frustrated that we’re not able to do anything with it,” Paul adding, citing Congress’s power of the purse over President Obama.
Paul’s remarks come as he struggles for voter support during one of the most crowded GOP presidential primaries in recent memory. He currently ranks tenth out of 15 candidates with 2.4 percent, according the latest RealClearPolitics polling average.